"rock Painting" Era Character

Dunhuang fresco, which gradually became popular as the Buddhism culture being introduced into China, is probably the most valuable art in ancient China. Rock painting is a kind of fine art which is painted with the same material with the fresco's, namely, the natural material color. But because of the change of the historical and cultural background, the rock painting is totally different from the Dunhuang fresco in both the exterior (line, color, and painting techniques) and the subjective view (view of color, appreciation).Chinese painting has presented great achievements within a history of thousands of years. Nowadays, it seems to be a field consists of multi-forms includes ink painting, fine brush painting, zhongcai painting, boneless painting and brush painting; each has its unparalleled advantages. And the rock painting, which is drawn on solid papers (jute paper, Wenzhou paper, Gaoli paper), cloths (linen, cotton cloth), thin silk, boards, metals and walls with the colors made from natural rocks'powder, develops rapidly and become soon prosperous. Rock painting is an art of both traditional and modern for in it the oriental culture and the occidental one perfectly melt together. Rock painting presents a new aesthetic perspective and has a creative significance.The works of modern rock painting apply modern thoughts, modern aesthetics and modern painting materials and techniques. They emphasize on the expressive power of the colors, the abundance and natural beauty of the picture and its texture. Modern rock painting adds many modern factors to the contemporary Chinese painting and it arouses a profound reflection on the color's expressive power. It succeeds in enhancing the art's expression of the society and makes the Chinese painting field more vigorous.This paper contains three chapters. The first chapter is a systemic introduction of the painting history from the Dunhuang fresco to the rock painting. The fresco's types, style, and characteristics in its heyday will be mentioned here. Then it comes to the wane of the fresco in Tang and Song dynasty and the development of Japanese painting at the same period. It is the introduction of the Japanese painting that drives the rock painting into renaissance and prosperity. In the second chapter, the Dunhuang fresco and the modern rock painting will be compared on both the exterior and the subjective aspects to obtain the similarities and differences. The comparison on these two aspects is conducted respectively from the perspective of expression techniques and the aesthetic ideal. The third chapter is mainly deal with the rock painting's modern multi-features through an analysis of the melting of the traditional painting, western painting, Japanese painting and folk painting.Through a comprehensive comparison between the Dunhuang fresco and the modern rock painting and a systemic analysis of the evolutive process, the author tries to find the origin of the rock painting, which is considered an art form originate from Japan; and the author also tries to make clear its features and status in modern China. This article is hoped to be helpful to the development of the study of rock painting.